Governor’s Attorney Seeks Appeals Court Seat

A compilation of news, context and little-known facts related to Oklahoma.

OCTOBER 2014

Governor’s Attorney Seeks Appeals Court Seat(Oct. 13)

The top attorney in Gov. Mary Fallin’s administration is applying to fill an open spot on the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

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Steven K. Mullins, Fallin’s general counsel and an adjunct law professor at the University of Oklahoma, is one of 11 applicants to fill the open District 2 spot on the court vacated by Charles A. Johnson, who retired in July.

The applicants, first reported by the Norman Transcript, will be required to go before the Judicial Nominating Commission, which will narrow down the field to three applicants. Fallin would then choose one of the three applicants to fill the post.

Mullins, a former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma, was appointed by Fallin as general counsel in 2012, and provided the legal rationale behind Fallin’s decision not to release some of her office’s documents requested under the Oklahoma Open Records Act, citing “executive privilege, deliberative process privilege and attorney-client privilege.”